Reconstructing & Revitalising Bealtaine
Authentic Irish Folk Practices Series
Bealtaine Timing
Cultural Bealtaine (Three day fire festival: Apr 30th, May 1st, and May 2nd)
Bealtaine Bank Holiday (first Monday in May — this year is May 1st exactly!) Astronomical Bealtaine (normally between May 3rd and 6th — this year is May 5th!)
Julian Bealtaine (around May 12th)
Conjunction of Pleiades Bealtaine (May 14th)
Monthly Bealtaine (whole month of May is called Mí na Bealtaine: Lá Bealtaine)
Much like how we did for Imbolg, we must ask in order to reconstruct Bealtaine: what happened bio-environmentally in Ireland’s past around this time of year? what is happening bio-environmentally now? and how do these factors effect diverse Irish culture (including subcultures) and The Good Neighbors? Lá Fhéile Bealtaine shona daoibh!
Bealtaine Weather & Plants
Irish weather in May can be very unpredicable, wet, and cold; according to Ireland’s Wildlife Calendar. According to MET Eireann, Ireland’s Meteorological Service, May is normally dryer in the South, wet in the middle and Northwest and runs very mild with 2022 average temperatures ranging from 11.3 °C to 13.1 °C (52.3–55.5 degrees fahrenheit). Summer in Ireland is normally dry and warm, and sunny in the South and East. The month’s highest temperature was reported at Shannon Airport, Co Clare on Saturday May 28th 2022 with a temperature of 21.0 °C (69.8 degrees fahrenheit). The month’s lowest air minimum was recorded on Tuesday May 31st 2022 at Mount Dillon, Co Roscommon with 1.4 °C (34.5 degrees fahrenheit). You can read the 2022 May Report here: https://www.met.ie/climate-statement-for-february-2022 and the full 2022 Summer Report (June, July, and August)here: https://www.met.ie/climate-statement-for-august-2022
Like anywhere, what happens in one area of Ireland on April 30th-May is going to depend on where you are.
As for plants and flowers, many begin to bloom beginning in May, with my favourites Lus buí Bealtaine (Marsh-marigold/ King cup and literally meaning “May Yellow plant”), Bainne caoin (Irish spurge), Tuile thalún (Bulbous buttercup), Coinnle coora (bluebell), Feileastram (yellow iris), Leaithín (mountain avens), Dris (bramble blackberries), Giolcach shléibhe (broom), Lus an tsagairt (common cow-wheat), and Searbh na muc (mouse-ear hawkweed). All are yellow except the bluebells of course, and also native Irish flowers that make themselves known this time of year amongst so many others. One last important one though: Sabhaircín (Primrose), is important to note nrmally bloom December-May, and are particularly useful in keeping the Good Neighbors at bay during Bealtaine.
Bealtaine Wildlife Watch: Tadpoles, Continued Spring Bird Migrations, Nesting Seabirds, Basking Sharks, Dolphins, Fledgling birds, & Pollinators: Bees, Dragonflies, & Butterflies)
Irish Froganna (frogs) “breed around February and spawn around March, Tadpoles hatch and grow from April to May, Tadpoles metamorphose into froglets, and leave the pond in June/July.”
According to Ireland’s Wildlife: “Ireland’s breeding seabird colonies are full of activity during the summer months. With the breeding season advancing many birds will be feeding chicks now, and you’ll see the parent birds coming and going with supplies of fish for their hungry brood.
Look out for puffins, razorbills, gannets, guillemots, fulmars and kittawakes nesting on cliffs and offshore islands.
Some key sites are The Skelligs off Co. Kerry, The Cliffs of Moher in Co. Clare, the Saltees off Co. Wexford and Rathlin Island off Co. Antrim, all of which offer great views of nesting seabirds. If you keep your eyes and ears open you’ll find lots of smaller colonies dotted around the cliffs and islands all around the Irish coastline.
Ainmhí Sheoil (Basking sharks — “the beast with the sail”) are present around Irish coasts beginning in March right through the summer months, but activity peaks in June and July — see our special feature for details on how and where to watch basking sharks in Ireland. According to Estyn Evans, basking sharks were “known to move down the west coast in summer, and in early May they haunt the Sunfish Bank thirty miles off Achill Island, where they come to the surface in teh morning and evening” (Estyn Evans, p. 240). Keep an eye out for common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and the occasional Risso’s dolphin, and don’t forget that killer whales can turn up around Irish coasts at any time of year (two were spotted off Mizen Head in West Cork, and again off the coast of Co. Kerry in early June 2013).
It’s not unusual to see adult foxes out foraging during the day during the summer. Fox cubs (usually born in March & April) are also venturing out more, and exploring further from their den with their boisterous antics, so it’s always worth looking out for activity near scrub and other cover if you have foxes in your area. Other mammals are also very active at this time of year, so keep your eyes peeled for squirrels, hedgehogs, stoats, pine martens, rabbits, hares and badgers.
Pollinators: bees, hoverflys, damselflies, butterflies, and other insects begin to become more prevalent in warmer weather beginning in late April. One of Ireland’s most commonly seen dragonflies, the four spotted chaser, is on the wing from early June.
The stunning marsh fritillary (Ireland’s only protected butterfly species) which is on the wing in early summer.
Others species to look out for include the “whites” (small white, large white and green veined white), the blues (common blue, holly blue and small blue), peacock, speckled wood, green hairstreak. small heath, wall brown, meadow brown and small copper.
Fresh Grass, Going to Pasture & Buaile/Booleying + Prime Butter Season
(photo by Michael Gibbons)
By Bealtaine, Irish grasses are growing well, and is traditionally when all the animals would be turned out to pasture in the fields (Kingston, p.102). Cattle especially were turned out where milking was done twice a day (morning and evening) in the fields (Danaher, p. 86). In the moorland, or mountains, cattle were sent to the buaile. The word Buaile or Booley means cattle fold or summer pasture (Mac Con Iomaire, (2014).
Robert at Roaringwater Journal writes extensively about the Booley, with some very great photos! I highly recommend the read! But i do want to mention that the booley is well written about by Danaher in Irish Customs and Beliefs (1964). Like Robert, I would be remiss if I didnt mention here that Danaher writes of how the Irish were stereotyped by English writers who said they were all nomads, but in actuality many Irish families had the custom of holding/owning two houses in different townlands, one always being a booley (O’Donovan, 1838) that would be looked after by youth (mostly teenage girls) or sometimes the whole family in the summer months until Samhain, or end of harvest.
“If you could take away the cattle from the fields around the house all during the summer and autumn, you could have more hay and a bit of winter pasture. Therefore you could keep more cattle and were a richer man. But where could you put the cattle in summer and autumn? Some of the family went and lived with the cows on the mountain. Some sort of dwelling was built there for them, they milked the cows morning and evening and made the butter which could be stored until the men from the home farm came for it once a week…
Most of [the booleys] were just rough copies of the kind of houses ordinarily used as dwellings, smaller and simpler but made of the same materials and by the same methods. Usually they had only one room, with a simple fireplace, often without any chimney, only a hole in the roof over the hearth… In fine weather their occupants could live out of doors all through the long period of daylight, coming in only to sleep or to cook food and eat it, and the buaile houses were used as sleeping-places only…
…old people tell of the buaile as a very happy place, full of song and laughter. On Sunday evenings the girls from several buailes would come together and the young men came up from the farms to be with them, and there was music and dancing and gaiety on hillsides that now hear only the bleat of the sheep and the cry of the grouse and the curlew…” — Danaher.
and Novelist Philip Robinson writes:
…The ghostly footprints of ancient sod walls still mark the sites where families once moved with their cattle up to uplands in county Antrim during the summer months (from May to October). They built temporary ‘booley’ huts to live in, usually beside a water burn or spring… The families that took their cattle to booley places on the Commons like Ardboley (High Booley), Carnbilly (Booley Cairn) or Milky Knowes had their home farms down on lower ground in clusters or villages called ‘clachans’. The arable land around each clachan was shared out between the group in a jigsaw of tiny plots and strips each year, and when the cattle returned before the 1st November, the field markers were torn down and the land around the clachans returned to common winter grazing. The homecoming to the clachan at harvest time was another great time of celebration and seasonal customs, closely tied up with Halloween bonfires and gatherings on 31st October.
All-May long, and especially the first butter made from the milk of May Day was seen a powerfully medicinal as it was/is used for salves & ointments (Danaher, AYII, p. 119).
It is very difficult to get an idea of what buaile huts looked like in their prime. According to RTE, “typically these structures had stone walls with ‘scraws’ of peat (from the Irish scraitheacha) placed on top of them and then more scraws and/or heather used as roofing. Some older huts were probably built largely of wattle or wickerwork, especially before the 1700s when trees were more common in our uplands”. Geographer and archaeologist E. Estyn Evans writes even more than Danaher in “Irish Folk Ways” (1957, republished by Dover in 2000).
“The observant walker in the hills will notice in sheltered hollows by the banks of streams, clusters of grassy mounds set in a green sward, or it may be small piles of stones under some rocky outcrop. These are the only tangible relics of the booley houses, and in most parts of ireland they were deserted so long ago that the shepherd will tell you they are the remains of Danes’ houses. Only where th ehuts were stone-built are the remains easily recognizable. In Achill Island, they are oval in shape, or rectangular with rounded corners, and many have the opposite doorways whic hare still characteristic of the winter dwellings. In some bogland areas where place-names and traditions tell of booleying there are no discernible traces, for the flimsy constructions in such sites, built wihtout stones, have been buried under the peat. Frequently, the huts were built into a sloping bank of peat or gravel, and the roofs were constructed of bog timbers covered by long strips of sod and thatched with heather secured with ropes. We shall see tha tlong roofing-sods are typical of traditional peasant dwellings to this day, and their use may go back to pastoral origins. It was observed near Newry in 1690 that hte cains wer built so convienently of hurdles and long turf that they can remove them i nsummer towards the mountains, and bring them down to the valleys in the winter. Circular hut-foundations are also found, some built of stones, others of sods, and the former may wellhave had corbelled stone roofs. The huts are generally in groups of five to twenty, either clustered or spaced within calling distance of each other. They are nearly alwas located near running water, usually near the headwaters of moutnain streams, where patches of bright green grass and such characterisitc flowers as tormentil may reveal their sites even when almost all trace has gone” (Estyn Evans, pp. 36–38.
The reason why I am writting so much about the buaile is that it was well practiced in Brehon Law times (written 600–700s CE and in effect until 1607 CE) until it was targetted in response to the Gaelic resurgence/revival period (beginning in 1350) by the English under the Statute of Kilkenny (1367 CE) the Irish …were forbidden to booley or pasture on those of the march lands belonging to the English; if they did so the English owner of the lands might impound the cattle as a distress for damage… they were also banning those of English descent from speaking the Irish language, from wearing Irish clothes or inter-marrying with the Irish, Irish people were also banned from speaking Gaeilge directly to the English. Since the government in Dublin had little real authority, however, the Statutes did not have much effect (thankfully) at the time until harsher punishments, beginning two-hundred years later furthered the English’s colonisation and empirical plan of cultural imperialism. However, the booleying tradition lived on in some parts of Ireland (Achill Island, Co. Mayo) until the 1940s… which makes me wonder if there are more contemporary stories to find that push the tradition into a revival of sorts to today… RTE did an excellent podcast and piece about the “lost art of booleying”, which is super eye opening.
According to Eugene Costello and RTE,
“Oral history collected in the 1930s and 1940s in Connemara, Mayo, Donegal, and the Galtee Mountains makes clear that booleying facilitated the transmission of a lot of important cultural knowledge. One man from Cloch Cheannaola in Donegal states that his mother had learned her songs from other dairymaids in the hills, while another account from Iorras Aintheach in Galway outlines how the girls not only sang but played musical instruments and danced as well.
But there could be danger too. Several folk stories in Irish from south Connemara and west Mayo portray upland booley sites as places where weird things were more likely to happen, especially at night. Hags or cailleacha frequently appear, cursing people or taking the form of a hare in order to steal milk from the cows.
Wolf attacks also occur in the stories despite that mammal having been extinct in Ireland since the mid-1700s. Strange men could even arrive and try to abduct a girl, though this usually resulted in the strangers being outwitted and physically beaten or killed.”
Eugene Costello’s 2021 textbook “Transhumance and the Making of Ireland’s Uplands, 1550–1900” is something to add to your Summer Reading Book Lists, and you can get a 35% discount with coupon BB135 (go to boydellandbrewer.com).
There are several folksongs that reminisce about booleying, including Na Gamhna Geala (The White Calves). One verse is shared here from Silverbranch Heritage:
Ó, bheirim se mo mhallacht do tsagart a phós mé,
‘S an darna mallacht do na bailte móra.
Siadsan nár chleacht mé riamh i dtús m’óige,
Ach mé ag rinnce ins a’ tsamhradh ‘gus na gamhna liom a’ seoladh.(My curse on the priest that married me,
And my second curse on the big towns.
That’s not how I spent my youth,
But dancing in the summer and herding cows.)
The Bealtaine Summer Tide
As with the last Imbolg post, I also dont want to only focus on the moors, mountains and central country. It is important to remember that Ireland is an island, and there are plenty of coastal cultural practices that happen throughout the year that work in tandem with booleying.
Seawrack (seaweed for fertilising and salt) and shell sand (used for quick lime, mortar, and sometimes flooring) would be carted up to 30 miles inland from the coast (Estyn Evans, p. 34), and no part of Ireland is more than 60 miles from the sea (Estyn Evans, p. 218).
“Deep in the ancient beach deposits and layer upon layer in the sanhills where we pocnic and play lie th relics of ancient shore dwellers. it was here of necessity that man found hirst foothold on the island, to ithe has clung and to it inlanders have returned to satisfy a variety of needs. Here by the shore man has gathered cockles and mussels, dug fo rbait and reaped the harvests of wreck and wrack, here he has built weirs and traps for fish, slips and shleters for boats, racks for drying nets and kilns for burning seaweed. here too he was want to hold festival with rites and games in seasonal gatherings long before port cities blocked the estuaries and holiday crowds thronged the open beaches. Easter and Harvest were the old times of festival, when the moon was full and the tides ran low. A teeming population of shellfish was the shore’s first attraction, a steady supply of food supplemented at the nesting season by seabirds and their eggs and in summer by the anadromous fish seeking fresh water” (p. 218).
There are over two dozen specific words for types, forms and species of seaweed in Irish. Seaweed has always been an important crop in Irish culture, however the decline of its use in the 20th century has been thought to be in part a response to the association of seaweed with poverty and starvation during An Gorta Mor genocide.
Seaweed, historically, has had many uses in Ireland. Other than general food and medicine, it has been harvested as field fertiliser for centuries, as a chewing tobacco substitute and iodine (1700s), kelp kilns burned seaweed to create ash for glazing pottery, for making glass and soap, and used as a preservative for cheese, seal meat, seafowl, and fish (1600s). Generally, carrageen has been a traditional food thickener for desserts, soups, and sauces; and in Irish folk medicine seaweeds have been traditional home remedies for colds, bronchitis, and chronic coughs.
“The [wrackbed] crop was harvested with knives and sickles between March and June, the bare-ffoted reapers at the same time lifting, turning, and re-setting the heavy boulders which tend to get buried in the sand” and “one cannot doubt that the harvest of the fields, it’s “luck” as well as its bounty, was felt to depend on success in this first step in teh farming year” (Estyn Evans, pp. 222–223).
“Winkles were the favourite food during Easter and Good Friday, but after St. Patrick’s Day, limpets are better eating. Shellfish are boiled in milk to give food for children and calves. Sandeels were pulled up with a bent iron or a blunted sickle: and in Mayo ‘they are taken on moonlit nights by considerbale gatherings of young people, the object being as much the amusement as the sandeels. In Donegal for scallops and oysters, when the tide was out, the young women waded into the sea, some of them naked, and by armfuls brought them to the shore. Scallop shells were put to many uses…often a substitute for the iron oil-pan of the open-wicked crusie. Seashells were also burnt to make lime for whitewashing the houses” (Estyn Evans, pp. 225–226).
In addition to other seafairing of porpoises and seals, crabs and lobsters, the seasonal activity of fowling or snaring seabirds and their eggs happens more busily in July, and in late summer sprat come ashore in vast numbers (Estyn Evans, pp. 226–230).
Bealtaine Megalithic Alignments: Sacred Sites
In addition to the booley huts as the sacred cultural sites that they are, here are a few megalithic/neolithic sites that have associations with Bealtaine. These include: the Hill of Uisneach in Co. Westmeath (that has seen ceremony for thousands of years), Beltany Stone Circle on the summit of Tops Hill in Co. Donegal, and more intriguing Cairn S at Slieve na Calliagh in the Loughcrew complex, Co. Meath, according to the research of well-known Anthony Murphy.
What I find so exciting is how we saw megalithic astro-alignments for sites during Samhain and Imbolg, the Cairn S at Slieve na Calliagh has alignments to not only Bealtaine, but also Lunasa. This for me really hits home the connection of a calendrical binary in ancient Ireland, of the summer and winter halves of the year and how the ancient Irish were incredible astronomical engineers. More needs to be researched, but i feel that the alignments and similiar cultural practices between Samhain-Imbolg and Bealtaine-Lunasa are trying to convey this socio-cultural context for us to understand.
A beautiful point of fact is how according to Anthony Murphy: “one beautiful aspect of the sunsets at Bealtaine and Lughnasa as viewed from the chamber of Cairn S is the fact that shortly before setting, the sun is reflected in the waters of Lough Sheelin, which lies some 16km (10 miles) approximately to the northwest of Loughcrew.”
The Good Neighbors & Otherworld Beings Stories to read & share during Bealtaine
The following is a list of stories to explore and share with yourself and others over the month of Bealtaine.
- It was on Bealtaine that Partholon’s people came to Ireland, and on Bealtaine that the Tuatha Dé Danann arrived and again on Bealtaine that the Milesians came to Ireland (Daimler, 2023).
- Partholon’s voyage can be found and read from The 11th-century Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland/The Book of Invasions), Seathrún Céitinn’s 17th-century compilation Foras Feasa ar Érinn (Foundation of Knowledge on Ireland/The History of Ireland), or the 17th-century Annála Ríoghachta Éireann (The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland) also known as the Annála na gCeithre Máistrí (Annals of the Four Masters).
- The TDD came to Ireland “in dark clouds” and “landed on the mountains of “Conmaicne Rein in Connachta” — Sliabh an Iarainn (“iron mountain”, a mountain in Co. Leitrim) “and they brought a darkness over the sun for three days and three nights” in the Lebor Gabála Érenn. They immediately burnt the ships “so that they should not think of retreating to them, and the smoke and the mist that came from the vessels filled the neighbouring land and air. Therefore it was conceived that they had arrived in clouds of mist”. For me these stories impart a theme of returning to Ireland Herself and new beginnings, and is a time we can all do well to reflect on, and possibly even return ourselves to Her shores literally.
- The Milesians arrival to Ireland is detailed in the 9th-century Latin work Historia Brittonum, the 11th-century Lebor Gabála Érenn. The tale of the Milesians is the division of Ireland lands: the TDD take to the Otherworld and the Milesians/Gaels get the land above in our reality. Of important note, according to John T. Koch’s “Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia” (2006. p.709) “this division of the land was probably invented by the writers to explain and justify the 7th/8th-century division between the royal capitals of Tara and Cashel.” In 1994, John Carey Carey published “The Irish National Origin-Legend: Synthetic Pseudohistory”, which detailed how “the Lebor Gabála then traces Ireland’s dynasties back to Milesian Gaels such as Éremon and Éber. Modern scholars, however, believe that these were fictional characters and that the writers were attempting to give the medieval dynasties more legitimacy.” This would be a great way to reflect and talk about more stories of manufactured legitimacy, colonialism, imperialism, and governmental propoganda to this very day. I highly recommend, JP Malloey’s 2013 “The Origins of the Irish”, and Kevin Collins’ 1990 “The Cultural Conquest of Ireland”.
- Getting back to it, many Bealtaine stories involve how the Good Neighbors engage in hurling matches, dances, ride out in parades on the fire festivals in order to travel to visit others, do battle, abduct human children, babies, or adults while they move to their summer lodgings. The next three are from Danaher, AYII, p. 121:
- The Great Earl of Desmond, a notable wizard, is often seen on May Day morning in full armour rising from the water of Loch Gur, Co. Limerick.
- O’Donoghue of the Glens, does this too, over the lakes of Killarney.
- The ‘Motty Stone’ boulder in Co. Wicklow, is known to leave its hilltop and drink at the Metting of the Waters, while rocks off the coast, such as the Fastnet, shake loose their bonds and sail at will about the sea.
- You cant talk about Bealtaine without the story of how a Bealtaine hare-witch was found trying to steal butter and shot, and is a story so often told I feel you can find this one anywhere these days. Other than that, there have to be other stories of significance around this time of year — if you know any i missed or forgot, please comment below!
Bealtaine Taboos
- Do not pick up and take home any item/garment up in the roadway — put it on the fence or bush as it could potentially be someone else’s luck that was collected and left by a Good Neighbor or witch-hare, not to mention the stigma of other people seeing you with it on Bealtaine Day would not be a very good idea as you could be considered the one who stole someone’s luck and crop prosperity.
- No digging, no white washing, no bathing, no sailing. (p. 87, Year In Ireland, Danaher).
- Hawthorn — DO NOT BRING SCEACH GHEAL (known as Fa*iry Tree, Whitethorn, or Hawthorn) INTO THE HOUSE ever, but especially do not use it in your May Bough! However, this taboo was/is not always recognised as in Vol. 594, p. 56 of the School’s Collection: “They also put whitethorn over the door. When May Day would come again they would throw out that whitethorn and bring in fresh thing. Half those things are not done at all now such as to bring in the whitethorn” from Co. Clare. And p. 85 of Vol. 594 again says “It is a custome on the first day of May to make a May bush out of flowers and a whitethorn bush” from Co. Westmeath. This is probably because May Day was thee only day you were allowed to cut it and/or bring it inside. Hawthorn trees are under the protection of the Good Neighbors, so you risk punishment if you cut them down. This is why highways and roads are normally rerouted around them in Ireland. No one wants to hurt them in Ireland, as it spells horrific piseogs of death, doom, and financial ruin. Interestingly, English author Ruth Binney suggests in her book “Plant Lore and Legend” the practice of bringing may blossom in came from a Roman celebration of Flora, goddess of flowering plants (2018: 33). Garlands made of hawthorn later found their way into May Day celebrations, where they helped to symbolise new spring life (2018: 35). This to me makes me wonder if the custom of bringing in Hawthorn is yet another example of English fuckery & ill-thought-out ideas around the Good Neighbors. Better safe than sorry in my opinion — keeping the taboo in place is important since hurting a hawthorn tree, and bringing it inside basically welcomes in any ill-luck along with the Good Neighbors! This to me seems super counterintuitive since Bealtaine is all about keeping Themselves appeased and away. Keeping good and safe boundaries is ESSENTIAL when dealing with the Good Neighbors. No one likes a target on their backs, eh? Now, if you have a living hawthorn tree out front, this is fair game in my opinion for your May Bush — but best to maybe not burn/hurt it!
- DO NOT LEND MILK, SALT, WATER, BUTTER, MONEY OR COAL FROM THE FIRE especially to strangers. “It is considered most unlucky and unwise to give away these things since the luck and ‘profit’ of the farm went with the gifts” (Estyn Evans, p. 272) (Danaher, AYII, p. 110) (Daimler, Irish Paganism, p. 49). These things are more than simple items, they are livelihoods: wealth for the year, and so giving these things away gives away your livelihood, prosperity, luck, and wealth for the year.
- DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING UNTIL AFTER AT LEAST NOON — this goes in tandem with the previous one, but this is extra important as money especially represents your wealth and to give it out on this day is just not wise.
- DO NOT TRAVEL OUT ALONE UNPROTECTED & DO NOT SLEEP OUTSIDE AT NIGHT!—Best of all protections on Bealtaine is to remain in the security of one’s own home, or at least to venture afield only briefly and under dire necessity, and above all, not to sleep out at night! (Danaher, AYII, p. 121).
- DO NOT ENTER YOUR NEIGHBOR’S HOUSE ON BEALTAINE MORNING (Crafty Cailleach). Also, “any stranger seen upon one’s property on May morning was immediately suspect of evil intent, and might be lucky to get away with only verbal abuse” (Danaher, AYII, p. 110).
- DO NOT GET MARRIED — “rue the day if married in May” (Crafty Cailleach) and “Marraige in May was considered most unlucky” (Danaher, AYII, p. 125).
- DO NOT CHANGE INTO SUMMER CLOTHES UNTIL JUNE, or depending on where you are, UNTIL THE WHITETHORN/HAWTHORN BLOSSOM — as the proverb goes: “Ne’er cast a clout until (the) May be out” (Danaher, AYII, pp. 126–127).
- DO NOT SWIM ON PENTACOST (Whitsuntide), which this year is 5/23/2023 — refrain from any dangerous work, and taboo against going near water/swimming! (Danaher)
Bealtaine Customs in Ireland
1.) Bless the land. Shake the Easter ‘traan’ water (Michael Fortune, folklore.ie, 2023 Irish Dresser and Folklore Calendar). According to Michael Fortune, “in Wexford, people referred to a little insect which cut the crops as a ‘traan’ and people had the belief that spreading this water would kill them. Armed with a bottle of this water, they would walk and sprinkle it from one corner of their field to the other, making a sign of the cross on the land as they walked. Ger recalls doing this with a cock’s feather and in most cases, this was undertaken in complete silence. You could only break your silence once you’d crossed the gate and left the field. This was done all over Wexford, north and south and this ‘traan’ water was got from the Friars in Wexford Town, Grantstown and New Ross. If you could not make it to the Friars in person, they travelled out to the countryside by bike and car, calling to farms and blessing this water for a small offering. This is similar to Easter Water which you get in other counties and is also tied in with the tradition of the Three Rogation Days.”
This could be done in tandem with walking the boundaries of your property/land, which is normally done at each of the four fire festives to check your boundaries, fences, water sources, and find any possible negative piseoga (charms, spells) from enemies/rivals in the form of poppets, rotten eggs/meat that could be buried sometimes (but not always) against yourself (Crafty Cailleach). Also, strange animals, either domestic or wild, were equally unwelcome. Hares and hedgehogs especially were not trusted and were often killed on May Day if caught on someone’s property (Danaher, AYII, p. 111). Adding to the necessity, protecting the dairy produce was a majour reason for all of these precautions, as the milk itself was watched after closely (Danaher, AYII, p. 114).
2.) Give appeasements/offerings to the Good Neighbors — It is common knowledge that the Sid (fa*iry hill/mounds) open up & the Good Neighbors leave the mounds to go to other hills for summer. In order to stay in Their favour, as well as it is Their due, it is custom to leave out butter, bread, and cakes on doorstep. It is a wise precaution to pour milk on threshold of house or at the roots/base of fa*ry thorn tree, and the many protective charms against stealing of cattle and milk. (Estyn Evans, p. 272) (Danaher, AYII, p. 121).
Fresh cow blood was/is also tasted and given to The Good Neighbors on the sid (fa*iry hills/mounds). “On May Eve, the peasantry used to drive all their cattle into old raths and forts thought to be much frequented by the fa*ries, bleed them, taste their blood, and pour the remainder on the earth’. It was said that the ghosts of cattle that had been lost could be seen in such places. (Estyn Evans, p. 272) Men and women were also bled, and their blood sprinkled on the ground; but this practice has, it is believed, now died out, though sacrifice through blood, or the taking away of life is still considered sacred and beneficial. When seeking for buried treasure, it is well to immolate a black cock or a black cat — a similar sacrifice is deemed necessary before the commencement of any important operation — it is also certain to remove ill-luck from a house” (Wood-Martin, W.G, Traces of the Elder Faiths: Fairy & Marriage Lore, Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Volume 3, 1897, p. 165)(Wood-Martin, W. G, 1902, Traces of the elder faiths of Ireland, p. 6). In the School’s Collection at duchas from Volume 0797, Page 161 we see that “The fa*ries exercise a powerful influence for evil at Bealtaine, or May time, so as a preservative against their malice and the fairy darts, which at this season wound and kill, It was the custom on May morning at sunrise, to bleed the cattle and taste of the blood mingled with milk. Men and women were also bled, and their blood was sprinkled on the ground, but this practice, however, died out, even in the remote West.”
3.) Protect yourselves from the Good Neighbor dangers (abductions, the evil eye, fa*ry-stroke: death or illnesses caused from sidhe gaoithe or fa*ry-blast winds, and other harms) — In tandem with giving Themselves offerings, we must also protect ourselves as well to stay safe and aware! One ceremony noted from Laois called for the head of the family to light a candle and bless the door, hearth, and the four corners of the home, as well as each family member from oldest to youngest, and then the area around the home where a rowan branch should be placed (normally woven into the ceiling or above doorways) (Daimler, Irish Paganism, p. 49).
“A piece of iron in the pocket gave some protection; a black handled knife was the best form of iron. Other useful safeguards were a spent cinder from the hearth, or a sprig of mountain ash/rowan — especially if twisted into a ring and held to the eye would enable its user to see the [Good Neighbors] clearly” (Danaher, AYII, p. 121). If you ever do get fa*ry-led or abducted, a good way to confuse Themselves and escape is to turn your clothes inside out; and worst-case-scenerio is to wash your hands and face in your own urine, which should cause Themselves to recoil in horror and allow you to leave (Danaher, AYII, p. 122). Given how terrifying the Good Neighbors can be, pissing yourself is sure maybe embarassing, but also a sure way to not get eaten or worse.
4.) The Uisneach Bealtaine Festival — this takes place this year on Saturday 6th of May — There are a few tickets left and can be purchased at www.uisneach.ie. Traditionally, you would walk your cattle between two bonfires, over small fires, or use the coals or wisps from the bonfire in order to singe the cows’ hair and bless the fields of growing crops (Danaher, AYII, p. 96). This blessing was and is done as stated above before sending them out to their booley pastures on the last Sunday in April (Danaher, AYII, p. 126), and the crops are visited by torchlight (Dowd, p. 94). “Turf, coals, old bones, particularly slugs of cows’ horns from the tan-yards, and horse’s heads from the knackers, logs of wood, etc. were also collected, to which some of the merchants would add a few pitch and tar-barrels” were used for the bonfires (Danaher, AYII, p. 95). This was also one of the few times a year house/kitchen hearthfires would be extinguished and relit from community bone fires. This is due to the idea that the smoke from the home on the day of Bealtaine morning could be used to steal butter (Danaher, AYII, p. 111). There was also great faith in putting a cross on cows (and horses) on the right side to protect it from all harm for the year (Danaer, AYII, p. 121).
5.) Féile na Bealtaine Arts Festivals — A central part of the Féile na Bealtaine Arts Festivals is the colourful and lively street parade.
“Féile na Bealtaine came to life in 1994 following gestation in the brain of Dr. Micheál Fanning, poet, GP, and restless spirit. The festival occurs annually throughout the Dingle Peninsula each May Bank Holiday weekend. Mar fhéile dhá-theangach tá béim aici ar gach cineál de léiriú ealaíne.”
It has established itself as a top-ranking voluntary community festival — a reliably high standard, energetic, open festival, welcoming to all that have sympathies with the area, and an artistic home to dozens of local performing artists. The festival invites contributors to push boundaries, exploring new venues, experiments with form and collaborate, while remaining true to the festival’s deep roots in a rural community.”
“Tapping one of Europe’s richest cultural resources the féile was a way to give artistic expression and focus to all of Corca Dhuibhne, ag cur béim ar an nGaeilge, ag deimhniu ár dtuiscint ar ár nduchas féinigh, igniting and kindling local and visiting artists who reflected his eclectic and universal interests. The emphasis from the beginning was on nurturing creativity in all, a sort of community medicine administered with a generous heart.
Féile na Bealtaine is an indefinable amalgam of things. Who leads it? Who’s it for? Who gains from it? Who suffers? We don’t know! Micheál drummed it up out of thin air, a nougat, an idea, a need he had, an itch to scratch, nourishing it then brandishing it with the enthusiasm of a mad pioneer. A novel comet, it veered into sight each year, swooping through a bemused community, before swooshing off into hibernation, each year gaining a little more colour, more heft, more champions, more traction. Becoming now not a freak event but a weighted counterpoint to daily routines: in rotation, 6 months of preparation, 6 months rest, summer, winter, lá agus oíche, Bealtaine: Light, Samhain: Darkness.
With his death in 2010, an instinctual reclaiming of the festival occurred, reflexive, spontaneous. “Our féile!”, we could not let it perish. At first, through loyalty the 15 people closest to its machinations coalesced into an ill-defined committee. We didn’t really have a plan. Out of our depth, afraid to let this precious thing drop, we worked and fretted, diligent and determined. As each year ecstatically concluded we grew in confidence, grew in ease, the tone shifts as relationships blossom or run cold. Certain avenues open, others close, it’s now an organic, semi-autonomous personality, a collective expression of diverse people’s values, habits, tensions and aspirations.”
6.) Wexford May Bush Revival — “Last year (2022) Michael Fortune resurrected the traditional May Bush Dance in Ballindaggin which was a common sight around the crossroads of rural Wexford in the 1950s and 60s. Building on the success of this event Ballindaggin, he is pleased to announce a much larger programme this year including a procession, traditional music sessions and a May Bush concert which will take place in the village on May Eve, Sunday, April 30.”
“A bush of Hawthorn, holly, gorse/furze at front door or front of your property (and at holy wells if one grows there, see below!) that is decorated with yellow flowers, colourful ribbons, garlands, paper streamers, Our Lady statues, egg shells, flags, handkerchiefs, pieces of gaudy silk, plastic Kinder egg shells and leftover foil from Easter eggs, bits of candles, rushlights, etc.” (Danaher, AYII, pp. 88–91). “The May Bush in Wexford is a piece of a whitethorn (known locally as a ‘sceach’) or a furze/gorse bush which is erected on May Eve or May Day and decorated with painted eggshells, ribbons and seasonal flowers. In other parts of the country they use rowan and even chestnut. Traditionally, May Bushes were erected in a prominent place outside in a bid to keep the ‘pisheogs’ away (i.e. the [Good Neighbors]) and like so many of our customs the May Bush was centred on the protection of the growing crops and the milk yield. Eggshells were kept from Easter Sunday, mostly by girls, and then painted and hung on these bushes. As children, my late mother used balloons which were bright for a moment, but they didn’t last long! These days people leave their May Bushes up for the month, while in the past it was left to wither of its own accord. The key thing was to get it up on May Eve/Day, as this was the turning point in the year when ‘the [fa*ries’] were out. The May Bush was used to keep them and bad luck away from your home and farmyard and never brought inside. The May Bush tradition also travelled across the Atlantic and still survives in pockets of rural Newfoundland, whose forebearers from the south-east of Ireland settled there in the late 1700s. Over the years I have visited these communities and found the May Tree tradition was still undertaken by a handful of older people, including Catherine Conway from Point Lance in St. Mary’s Bay. As they didn’t have the whitethorn or gorse, they use a pine tree and decorate it with ribbons, and instead of candles Catherine puts Christmas [fa*ry] lights on them. Interestingly, the ribbons on the May Tree are always blue as the month of May is associated with the Virgin Mary. Come the month of June, The May Tree is left up but the ribbons replaced with red ones, as June is associated with the Sacred Heart. As in Wexford, you will find statues of Our Lady left at the foot of the May Bush or tied up on top.”
What’s funny is that in line with Bealtaine luck stealing, it was and maybe still is custom: “to successfully steal the May Bush which would steal away the year’s luck from the rightful owners” (Danaher, AYII, p. 92). Speaking to I feel the general sense of merriment, yes, but also, the general air of “roystering, drinking, fighting,” revenge, practical joke, hoaxes, and pranking — honestly reminds me of the Samhain Irish tradition of stealing the gate…which is very “fire festival energy” in my opinion that runs in tandem throughout. Which is of course something I feel we need to appreciate and bring back more.
7.) Being noisy! Sing songs! Dance! — Following up on what was just shared — roystering/noisy merrimaking has been beaten out of alot of us — literally. “The impact of Victorian respectability on these revels…was a main factor in the disappearance of the May bush…celebrations. Authorities held that they were a nuisance on the public roads and a number of laws forbade their erection…” even the extent that neighbors could be fined/punished for a neighbor putting one up for more than 3 hours! (Danaher, AYII, pp. 94–95).
Many of you know my views on respectability politics… Being boisterous in a white supremacy culture that privileges demure complacent silence devoid of showing emotion is an ultimate act of resistance that can be utilised by any marginalised people. As the sayings go: “the sound of gentrification is silence”, and “silence is violence”.
As Xochitl Gonzalez has written: rich [white priviledged colonisers] love the quiet. So much so that “cacophonous days [get] eroded, one chastisement at a time. The passive-aggressive signals to wind gatherings down are replaced by point-blank requests to make less noise, have less fun, do our living somewhere else”. So many ordinances across the colonised world have been passed to “prohibit street vendors (many of them immigrants) from shouting, whistling, or ringing bells to promote their wares.” In the 90’s, “1991, the NYPD launched Operation Soundtrap, a campaign in which cops would trawl streets — often in majority-Black-and-brown communities — hunting for and confiscating cars with enhanced stereo systems. (“If they don’t turn down the volume, we’ll turn off their ignition,” the chief of the police department vowed.) When Rudy Giuliani became mayor in 1994, he used a cabaret-license law to force clubs out of gentrifying neighborhoods like the Lower East Side and Chelsea. The battle against nightlife continued during the Bloomberg years. New York was effectively codifying an elite sonic aesthetic: the systemic elevation of quiet over noise.”
This i feel goes to the heart of the police state that comes intrinsically with colonialist imperialism… so to honour the movement for collective liberation, there is no reason to remain small when we can be loud and happy!
8.) May Boughs — in most parts of Munster, people would pick and bring to the house small branches of newly-leafed trees of holly, hazel, elder, rowan, ash, furze, or sycamore. These boughs are used to decorate the kitchen, lay on door steps, and window ledges, or on the roofs of the house and byre. May Boughs of rowan/mountain ash were also staked up in the farmyard or in the fields to guard against thunder, lightning, ill-luck and evil influence. If a May Bush isn’t already growing, a May Bough can be staked up in its place. It is important to note, however that which plants were seen as lucky or unlucky varies greatly according to local custom, and as I said before maybe best not to cut the Hawthorn/whitethorn for this without permission of the Good Neighbors (Danaher, AYII, p.89).
4.) Iris Flaggers — Instead or together with flowers, place the long leaves of ‘flaggers’ (Iris pseudacorus) on the doorsteps and window sills, and/or decorate the dresser (i.e. the kitchen dresser). In Cape Clear Island bunches of ‘flaggers’ were put in the fishing boats for luck! (Danaher, AYII, p. 89).
9.) Flowers, “especially in those that carried the promise of butter in their golden cups and a free flow of milk in their bounteous white blossom. May flowers, primroses and gorse gathered before sunrise were scattered on the threshold of the house and garlands of “Summer”, as the flowers were called, were hung on the doorposts and even tied to the cows’ tails. In the Antrim Glens the mayflowers were crushed to provide juice with whi chthe cows’ udders were washed, and elsewhere buttercups were used for the purpose. Cow dung, if less hygiencis, had similar protective power, presumably in the belief it contained the essence of the flowers of the fields. Sprigs of rowan were stuck it neh midden, placed over the door of the byre and hung on the cows’ horns. Flowers were also put around the well, for it was supposed that a milk-thief could steal you rsumer’s milk and butter by skimming the water at this time, or by dragging a rope across a field to collect the dew. Boundary streams were also potent in this connexion, and I was told in Donegal that the milk churn had to be washed on May Day in ‘three landlords’ waters’, that is the meeting place of three properties” (Estyn Evans, pp.272–273). The point where the bounardies of the three farms or three townlands met is called uisce na dtri teorann (water of the three mearings) and were especially potent! (Danaher, AYII, p. 110).
10.) May Dew — it aint just about and for Victorian beauty standards! “They would go forth betimes in the morning, and before sun-rising, into a green field, and there either with their hands strike off the dew from the tops of the herbs into a dish, or else throwing clean linnen cloaths upon the ground, take off the dew from the herbs into them, and afterwards wring it out into dishes; thus they contine their work until they have got sufficient quantitiy of dew according to their intentions…The dew thus gathered they put into a glass bottle, and so set it in a place where it may have the war msunshine all day long, keeping it there all the summer; after some days rest some dregs and dirt will settle to the bottom; which they preceive, they pour off all the clear dew into another vessel, and fling away those setlings. The dew was believed to bring immunity from freckles, sunburn, chapping and wrinkles during the coming year. IT ALSO CURED, or prevented headaches, skin ailments and sore eyes. The man who washed his hands in the dew…gained skill in opening knots and locks, in mending nets and disentangling ropes. The woman who did liekwise could unravel tangled threads with ease. To walk barefoot in the dew cured soreness, prevented corns and bunions and ensured healthy feet during the year” (Danaher, AYII, p. 109). Now, if you are like me, and are doing the mental maths of what this means if you are 2SLGBTQ+, then i say we get all the benefits to off balance all the shite we deal with on the daily! ;)
11.) Pick and give flowers to “old, lonely, and/or helpless people” (Danaher, AYII p. 89).
12.) Spread out the rushes (especially for friends who you havnt seen in awhile)! As the saying goes: “if I knew you were coming we’d spread the green rushes for you” (Dowd, p. 31). In Irish traditional and literary accounts, the particular feast and festival days on which rushes were spread, and mentioned, include: Feast of the Epiphany, St. Brigid’s Eve, Lady Day, Easter, May Eve, May Morning, Eve of St John, St Johns Day, Corpus Christi, St Martin’s Day, and Christmas. There is some evidence to suggest that straw and hay were also spread, perhaps as a subsittute, when no rushes were locally available…or not as freely available as straw…since rushes are freshest and greenest in May, June, and July” (Dowd, p. 41). If you notice the line up, all the fire festival times are listed save for Lunasa…which one would think hay/straw would be more readily available for the occassion.
13.) Bealtaine Wells — Visit & guard wells/streams on property at dawn & guard them with shotguns, chains & lock your pumps and decorate well with flowers (danaher, AYII, p. 113). This isnt the run-of-the-mill Chalice Well picture that often pops up this time of year!
The first water after dawn was taken from the surface of the well with a milk skimmer and brings good luck, protection, and healing. Is called “the top of the well, the luck of the well” Barra-bua an tobair, sgiath an tobair, and other names. (Danaher, AYII p113)
14.) Babóg na Bealtaine (May Baby) effigy parade, May Boys, May (Hurling) Balls, and May Queen — “The girls dressed up a churn-dash as a “May Baby”, like the [Brideog] at candlemas — and the men, a pitchfork, with a mask, horse’s tail, a turnip head, and ragged old clothes, as a “May boy” (Danaher, AYII, p. 103).
“The May Baby Parades link the festival with the fertility of the family as well as the fields…an account of the ceremonies as described in Co. Louth in teh early nineteenth century: “on May Day, the figure of a female is made up, fixed upon a short pole and dressed in a fantastic manner, with flowers, ribbons, etc. This figure they call ‘The May Baby’… Around this figure a man and woman (generaly his wife) of the humble class, dressed also fantastically with straw, etc. dance to the sound of afiddl and entertain the people with indecent shows and postures… These exhibitions cause great merriment among the assembled populace; women who have had no children to their husbands also attend to see this figure and performance, which they imagine will promite fruitfulness in them, and cause them to have children” (Estyn Evans, p. 273) (J. Donaldson, Upper Fews in 1838, p. 70).
Of note however, it seems that the May Queen and King (+ May Pole) custom is an import from England and colonised Wales… but the May Boys and the May Baby effigy is more in line with typical Irish fire festival customs.
So, wait… you mean May Day mummers aren’t Irish?! Yeah! Mumming is more of a Swedish & British/English thing. In Ireland, there is a very unique Straw Boy tradition that happens in tandem with every large celebration from weddings to, you guessed it, all the fire festivals…and each have their own names.
Whether they are called Brideogs/Biddies/Biddy Boys (Imbolg), May Boys (Bealtaine), Wren Boys (Christmas), or plain Straw Boys (at Lunasa*, weddings, and wakes). In Cliona O’Carroll’s Béaloideas review of “Hay Straw and Rushes in Irish Folk Tradition” by Anne O’Dowd we are reminded of the incredible importance straw, hay, and rushes as constituent parts (with both curative and protective power) of symbolic action relating to salient points in teh ritual calendar (particularly all four quarter-days St. Brigid’s Day, Mayday, Lunasa, and Hallowe’en) and the lifecycle (including birth, marriage, and death)” (O’Carroll, p. 217).
There is a whole section in Dowd’s book titled “Straw and May Day” starting on page 94 that notes something interesting surrounding “mummers”in Athy, Co. Kildare: “The leader of the dance carried a large garland supported on a staff, and two hobby Horses wer led around the fire by a person dressed in straw and carrying a large staff at the top of which were several bladders. A second person dressed in straw preceeded the leader of the dance” (Dowd, p. 96). Another account details how people were also dressed in “gaily-coloured” clothes and ribbons and the women “carried a holly bush in which were hung new hurling balls — presents for the boys. They were led in their procession by a ‘clown’ wearing a ‘frightful’ mask and carrying a long pole, attached to whic hwere shreds of cloth. Dipping this in water, he sprinkled the crowd to keep them at bay” (Dowd, p. 96). In Co. Wexford, a procession also “included a fool and his wife: the fool wore a head dress of skin, a ‘frightful’ mask and a goat’s beard descending from it. His wife was attired in an orange gown and had an ugly female mask fitting close to her face” (Dowd, p. 96).
On the next page, Dowd details the Babóg na Bealtaine (May Baby): “On May eve a straw figure or effigy was dressed like a queen. It was called the ‘May Baby’ or ‘May Babby’. The nicest girl in the district was appointed May queen and shehad to carry the may Babby and she was followed by a huge procession. In north Louth, the May Bush was set up outside the house and the Babóg Bealtaine, the May Baby, was dressed with flowers and ribbons and brought from house to house for money. In Carnaross, Co. Monaghan…a doll was dressed as the ‘May Child’ and carried around the district. The day ended with a dance at the crossroads. The May Baby custom was said to be ‘a general practice…in most villages’ in county Kilkenny in the mid-nineteenth century, and it may have been practiced in the later nineteenth century in Tralee, county Kerry” (Dowd, p. 97).
This to me reminds me of the Imbolg Brideog, Lunasa effigy decorated with flowers, and the Samhain Harvest Maiden effigy traditions.
Special mention: The Bábóg Project
We can’t talk about the Babóg na Bealtaine without mentioning also the Bábóg Project.
“In 2018, Courtmacsherry-based doll-maker Laura Whalen started The Bábóg Project which aimed to make a small, palm sized doll for each of the 12,000+ babies that are said to have died in Ireland’s mother and baby institutions.”
In the spirit of right relationship, whenever able, i suggest giving back and supporting the Coalition of Mother and Baby Institution Survivors, and the Clann Project.
CMABS is an Irish umbrella group comprising several survivor groups fighting for justice. They do not collect donations or receive grants. They hold protests, engage in political lobbying and offer peer support to survivors and those affected. You can find them on Facebook here.
The Clann Project is an Irish charity for Unmarried Mothers and their Children, a joint initiative by the Adoption Rights Alliance and Justice for Magdalenes Research (JFMR). The group facilitates legal assistance for those wishing to give evidence to Ireland’s Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Institutions.
*Re: Lunasa strawboys, it seems like it is less common for this festival and instead everything else with straw/hay/rushes are woven into harvest knots, bilberry picking baskets.
15.) Meh — May-Poles— Until the beginning of the present century it was customary in the town of Carrickfergus for the young men to bring in a tall straight tree from the country and plant it as a May-pole on May day, Still earlier a large number of the young men used to assemble on that day wearing white linen shirts over their other dress, decorated with a profusion of lively ribbons tied in knots. Having elected a king and queen, they danced round the May-pole and then visited the houses of the chief inhabitants for contributions”. (Ulster Journal of Archaeology, First Series, Vol. 3 (1855), pp. 163–164 (2 pages) https://www.jstor.org/stable/20608758) As stated before, it seems that May Poles are of English import (cultural imperialism) as “attempts are known by people with English associations to introduce the ‘polite’ English custom of the May pole to the ‘wild Irish’” (Danaher, AYII, p. 98) which really hits the fuckery home.
However, and this is a big big however, one particular fusion of the May Pole with traditional Irish Bealtaine May Babies and Strawboys and May Bushes is this example of a May Baby being set to the top of the May Pole and others making May Babbies for the celebration. The entire video is in Irish, but with even my very limited Irish skills you can make sense of what is happening.
16.) May is the Month of Mary — Like I’ve written before, it is a huge Irish custom to venerate Mary all the month of Bealtaine. Whether or not she is represented with a baby Jesus it doesn’t really matter — what does is a blue or linen altar cloth, or the cleanest tea-towel you can find, votive candles, prayers, and fresh “wildflowers, like buttercups, primroses, and wild bluebells and cowslips”.
This is done to protect the home from maliciousness, from evil, from the Sidhe and all other harms, and also to ensure good luck, health, and wealth for the year. All very reminiscent of Irish pagan Bealtaine practices.
Last year, in 2022, I had the privilege to go to Lady Well in Co. Longford. You can see a picture below along with a link to a short video.
17.) Sting people & drink your nettles! — “another May Day custom was the license allowed young boys to run about stinging people with nettles” (Estyn Evans, p. 274). Also, a “favourite dosage was three meals of fresh young nettles boiled tender, or three cupfuls of the liquid from this boiling taken on three consecutive days, beginning on May Day. The liquid from boiled whitethorn blossoms, was also equally beneficial (Danaher, AYII, p. 120). I like to make nettle tea every year by the suggestion of Lora O’Brien.
18.) An Stróilín/Dreoilín/Tréidín (The Pleiades): according to David Halpin of Circle Stories, “On Bealtaine the Pleiades cluster of stars appear on the horizon just before the moment of sunrise. The Pleiades is connected to interesting lore concerning fairies and Bealtaine. For some, it is a time when ‘bad’ fairies roam and when people should be careful about boasting or flaunting their wealth. Others associate the rising of The Pleiades with the banishing of ‘dark fairies’ until Samhain, when the Pleiades instead rise at sunset. Perhaps the appearance of the Pleiades in the night sky at sunset, as opposed to sunrise, accounts for this switch?”
According to duchas, there are three transcripts talking about the Pleiades. The first, says: “The PLEIADES are frequently known as The STRÓILÍN, and neighbours, when visiting, or on a CÉILIDHE [a friendly visit/social evening with Irish dancing], time their departure by the position of this constellation. If the Pleiades are setting they will say “It is late, THE STRÓILÍN is going down!” The GREAT BEAR gets a name which is practically a translation of one of its English names: it is called “The Cam Céachta” — the crooked plough.”
On teanglann, and in modern Irish, we find the word referenced as the following literally meaning the stragglers or straggling line of people. If like me youre fond of alliteration, the straggling sisters would be a good fit i think:
streoillín, m. (gs. ~, pl. ~í).1. Dim. of STREOILLE. 2. ~ (daoine), straggling line (of people). 3. Astr:An S~, the Pleiads.
The second transcript details a second name: “When I was a boy at home my mother had Irish names for many of the stars and groups of stars. The only name I can presently recall is the Dreoilín. This as well as I can remember, was applied to a group of 7 stars which lie very close together and may be seen about 10.30 o’clock any bright star-lit night pretty high up in the south-eastern sky. I am not sure but I think it is the group of stars called the Pleiades. They are so close together and their light blends so, that it is sometimes difficult to say if there are seven or only six in the group.”
Again via teanglann, we have the direct meaning of dreoilín being “wren”.
dreoilín, m. (gs. ~, pl. ~í).1. (a) Wren. Níl oiread ~ ann, he is as diminutive as a wren. Níl díol ~ caite aige, he has eaten nothing. Cé gur beag díol ~ caithfidh sé a sholáthar, ‘little as a wren needs it must gather it’, even the smallest necessities of life have to be provided for. Is leor don ~ a nead, for a little bird a little nest. Mún ~ san fharraige; cúnamh an ~ don fharraige, a mere drop in the ocean. (b)~ ceannbhuí, easpaig, goldcrest. S.a. BRÁTHAIR 6. 2. Diminutive creature. An ~ bocht, the poor little thing; the little wretch. ~ spóirt, plaything, object of ridicule, silly person. 3. Wren-hunt. Dul sa ~, to join in the wren-hunt. Lucht an ~, wren-boys. Lá an D~, St. Stephen’s Day. 4. Ent:~ teaspaigh, grasshopper.
The third, is yet to be translated, but in Irish it says: “2) Caogad bliain ó shoin nuair ná bíodh a lán uaireadóirí ná cluig ag muintir na Tuaithe, bhíodar ana eolgaireach ar an dTréidín. (Tréighdín = braisle réalt sa spéir. Pleiades ).” With a bit of translation and my very basic Gaeilge proficiency, you could translate this to mean: “Fifty years ago when the people of the community didn’t have many watches or bells, they were very fond of the Tréidín. (Pleiades = cluster of stars in the sky. Pleiades)”
On teanglann, we have a couple options:
tréidín, m. (gs. ~, pl. ~í).1. Dim. of TRÉAD. 2. Astr:An T~, the Pleiades.
tréad, m. (gs. & npl. ~a, gpl. ~). Flock, herd. 1. ~ caorach, flock of sheep. ~ bó, muc, herd of cows, of pigs. 2. Congregation. An t-aoire is a thréad, the pastor and his flock. 3. Band, community (daoine, of people).
tréigean, m. (gs. -gin).1. vn. of TRÉIG. 2. Desertion, abandonment. ~ teaghlaigh, tíre, desertion of family, of country. ~ prionsabail, abandonment of principle. ~ cairdeasa, renunciation of friendship. ~ comharbais, renouncement of succession. ~ na talún, the flight from the land. Tá tart gan ~ orm, I have an insatiable thirst. 3. Fading, falling away. ~ datha, blátha, fading of colour, of bloom. (Var:~t m, tréigbheáil f)
Since the duchas reference of Tréighdín = braisle réalt sa spéir (Pleiades = cluster of stars in the sky), i am fondest of tréad as a direct reference to a flock or herd of stars (rather than a cluster). Especially because dreoilín means wren, we could go so far as to call the Pleiades a ‘flock’ of wrens, and secondly; because of the Dowth stone of seven stars is theorised to be a possible representation of the dindshencha [place name story] of Dubad (Dowth, which means “Darkness”) that details six cows and bull… a ‘herd’ of cattle if you will (Daimler, 2023, The Pleiades course via The Irish Pagan School).
So in my mind, the Pleiades are seen as a flock of wrens or a herd of cattle in Irish folklore & culture… and more research/digging needs to be done to look into it from this angle…
Morgan Daimler goes into more detail in their book entitled “Living Fairy: Fairy Witchcraft and Star Worship” (2020). Bealtaine is one of the main processional points for the Pleiades, as it is now when they conjuct with the sun and disappear from the sky. By my understanding, conjunctions are when objects reach their highest point in the sky at noon and are obscured by the sun rendering the object “invisible”. Obviously, it being day time, all the stars are impossible to see, which is why having a handy sky mapping app would be super important to use on this day.
According to Daimler, 4000 years ago this conjunction time happened closer to the Spring Equinox, in the year 1000 CE it would have been around April 23rd, and in 2019 it was May 14th. For this year, I can only guess that it will happen around the same time — finding a reliable algorithm or astronomy site has been proving difficult to say the least!
But, according to Daimler, this processional point of the year, can be called “The Darkening”, when the Queens part ways and leave Their courts to travel…search…sow change/strife…beginnings and endings come as They have Their own agendas” (Daimler, Living Fa*ry, pp. 42–52). This is of course a new form of Reconstructionist practice, and it will be interesting to see what happens, though i have to say when i read it — things started to CLICK.
19.) Second to last, Settle your accounts — this probably should have gone at the tippy top of the list, but here we are. According to Lora O’Brien, with the “summer shifts in population, it was a time when accounts were settled, taxes and tithes called in, obligations met, and payments made. This can translate into our own cycle, too, in the way of assessing what is owed to you, what you owe to yourself, and to others and settling your accounts. When we are coming to the Summer in true, anything we have promised ourselves that we needed to do or have done needs to be taken care of now, if it has not been seen to before… In our world, we should look to pay off niggling debts, clear up misunderstandings, clarify relationships, collect what is owed to us, and generally settle our accounts both ways” (O’Brien, Irish Witchcraft from an irish Witch, p. 124 & 128).
This point really ties well for me with the larger International Worker’s Day movement. You all know my feelings about that! As workers we are owed so much more than we are given, and as the creators of profit and production we can and should demand more! In a world where the minimum wage should be $26 dollars an hour, we still have so far to go…
20.) June: Midsummer Fires — i may end up doing another post/update about Midsummer, as it is becoming more and more apparent how important it is in the Fa*ry Faith.
“Young men would show their mettle by jumping to and fro through the flames, and girls by doing so hoped to marry early and have many children. We recall that leaping is in folk tradition a widely approved method of making the crops grow high, and the fires, it is conjectured, were meant to encourage the sun, now at its turning point, to shine on through the harvest. Midsummer was a time when evil influences affecting human beings and the animals and crops were usually potent. It is remembered that ‘the oldest woman in the town’ would go round the fire three times on her knees, reciting prayers. To walk three times sunwise round the fire was to ensure a year without sickness, and as the flames died down the cattle were driven through the embers and their backs were singed with a lighted hazel wand: the sticks were preserved and utilized for driving the cows. By tradition everyone carried home a burning stick from the fire, and whoever was first to take it into the house brought good luck of the year with him. A glowing turf from the fire was caried three times sunwise round the dwelling house, and others were thrown into the growing crops. Yarrow was hung in the house to ward off illness. Fernseed was gathered for its magic powers and divinations made from the roots of bracken and lilies…retaining some of the ashes from the Midsummer fires to mix with the following season’s seed corn” (Estyn Evans, pp. 274–275).
Bealtaine Conclusion
This article, may be a good start to another paper some day, but it helps me to organise all these practices into one place and hopefully apply them as i can over the next month.
I hope this mind-dump was helpful, and please forgive any spelling/grammar errors. I tried my best at a quick edit because i promised that this would be posted by Bealtaine eve night, with the coveat that i could update as needed.
Stay safe out there comrades! I love you.
Resources & Bibliography
- https://www.independent.ie/regionals/corkman/entertainment/may-bush-maintains-bealtaine-tradition-with-wexford-links-39186875.html
- https://www.rte.ie/culture/2019/0430/1046522-may-day-alert-bringing-the-may-bush-tradition-back-to-life/
- Costello, E. (2017). Liminal learning: Social practice in seasonal settlements of western Ireland. Journal of Social Archaeology, 17(2), 188–209. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469605317708378
- Mac Con Iomaire, M. (2014). Gastro-Topography: Exploring Food-Related Placenames in Ireland. The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, 38(1/2), 126–157. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43410726
- Wood-Martin, W.G. 1897. Traces of te Elder Faiths: Fairy and Marriage Lore. Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Volume 3, 1897, p. 165. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x002551670&view=1up&seq=174&q1=bleed
- Wood-Martin, W. G, 1902, Traces of the elder faiths of Ireland : a folklore sketch; a handbook of Irish pre-Christian traditions by W. G. Wood-Martin Volume 2, p. 6. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89018086496&view=1up&seq=11).
- https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2021/0831/1211486-booleying-ireland-summer-migration/
- https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781783275311/transhumance-and-the-making-of-irelands-uplands-1550-1900/
- https://silverbranchheritage.ie/booleying-in-buaile-beag/
- Bealtaine Fire Festival 🔥 | May Day Traditions in Ireland | Irish Magic & Folklore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIUXO9mBbEM
- https://www.independent.ie/regionals/cork/lifestyle/straw-boys-may-boys-mummers-and-mischief/38384077.html
- CLÍONA O’CARROLL Béaloideas, “Reviewed Work: Hay Straw and Rushes in Irish Folk Tradition by Anne O’Dowd” Iml. 84 (2016), pp. 216–221 (6 pages) https://www.jstor.org/stable/45212758
